There is a chance of rain in the morning in Nagpur. We should probably bowl first if we win the toss, given that its a green top and there is a chance of rain. Should be quite a bit of swing for our seamers. Also, if there are a couple of rain delays, its better that it affects their batters' concentrations than ours!

chyicarus

February 21, 2005, 07:52 PM

In India, I doubt how long the wicket is going to stay green. It all depends on the conditions that morning. Its really hard to judge what to do winning the toss. Its better if we lose the toss!
Rain won't hamper the batting conditions- likewise it will also dampen the bowlers' rhythm.

Sham

February 21, 2005, 07:57 PM

Yeah you are right. Definitely a hard one to call. However, if the bowlers lose there rhythm, they'll get an over or two to try to get it back. The batsmen need only make one mistake and its all over for them!

bourny3

February 21, 2005, 08:11 PM

GO BD go BCBXI

bdboy

February 21, 2005, 08:58 PM

Goodluck

vindeshi

February 21, 2005, 09:03 PM

yeah good luck BCB XI

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 10:51 PM

Any stat on Monir?
Is he a pace bowler?

Zunaid

February 21, 2005, 10:52 PM

Bangladesh Cricket Board XI won the toss and elected to field first

aosaif

February 21, 2005, 10:52 PM

BCB XI won toss elected to field

Go_Bangladesh

February 21, 2005, 10:56 PM

shobai ki follow kortisen

Rubu

February 21, 2005, 10:56 PM

now thats unusual. unless there is something really for the bowler in the pitch, winning toss means batting in the longer version of the game.

or was it just "nervous" ashraful trying to show that he actually "think" as captian?

is anwar hossain monir a bowler or batsman? the team seems pretty lame to me:Al Sahariar, Alok Kapali,Abdur Razzak, Talha Jubair, Tareq Aziz, Anwar Hossain Monir, are a few to name.

Rubayed

February 21, 2005, 10:59 PM

Originally posted by AgentSmith
now thats unusual. unless there is something really for the bowler in the pitch, winning toss means batting in the longer version of the game.

or was it just "nervous" ashraful trying to show that he actually "think" as captian?
As it has been said in dailystar that its a green pitch, so i c no reason not to bowl first. Take a chill pill buddy!

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:00 PM

I heard that it was raining before. If that's the case, then opting for bowling is the right choice IMHO.

Rubu

February 21, 2005, 11:01 PM

green pitch in asian sub continent is like champagne in korimuddi's tea stall.

how much green it is and how long will it remain green is a big "?" mark.

Blah

February 21, 2005, 11:01 PM

Originally posted by AgentSmith
now thats unusual. unless there is something really for the bowler in the pitch, winning toss means batting in the longer version of the game.

or was it just "nervous" ashraful trying to show that he actually "think" as captian?

I seriously doubt it's his decision alone.
Whatever the reason, they are in a better position to make a decision based on the circumstances of the field than we are sitting behind our computers.

Common sense tells me, since it's a "green" wicket, whoever bowls first will have a slight advantage.

Blah

Rubu

February 21, 2005, 11:02 PM

keep in mind that i'm just questioning, not making any comment yet.

2007WcSemifinalist

February 21, 2005, 11:03 PM

bowling first is the right decision since it's a green top pitch

Rubu

February 21, 2005, 11:04 PM

i hope so.

danguly is actually playing. lets get one of our quicky to blow his head off.

..... damn, we don't have any. all the non-spinners we are playing are gentle-medium bowler.

rana

February 21, 2005, 11:05 PM

Cricinfo Churu korena keno:E

2007WcSemifinalist

February 21, 2005, 11:06 PM

is tareq aziz playing? i heard he isn't going india bacause of his exam...

SunmAn

February 21, 2005, 11:07 PM

good luck to ASH!
good to see this lil kid has his luck with him!

rana

February 21, 2005, 11:09 PM

feeling so hot baby:joy:

al Furqaan

February 21, 2005, 11:09 PM

yeah, anyone got the score???

al Furqaan

February 21, 2005, 11:09 PM

good to see cricinfo made teh correction and is listing our team as the "BCB XI"

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:12 PM

Game supposed to start at 11pm Eastern (USA) time.
What's going on at CI?

rana

February 21, 2005, 11:14 PM

cricinfo is getting more slower:bird:

al Furqaan

February 21, 2005, 11:14 PM

the south vs west game has its score workin...again cricinfo shafting bangladesh. GRRRRRR!!!

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:17 PM

ok here we go.
Monir bowling...
Good luck BD:P

rana

February 21, 2005, 11:17 PM

East Zone 1/0 (1.0 ov)
Bangladesh Cricket Board XI

Blah

February 21, 2005, 11:17 PM

free comms paiba abar complaino korba pola-paeen.

"Oh lets watch free comms on cricinfo."

"Oh look cricinfo dun like BD, lets b-itch about them... "

:)
Relax guys

Blah

Edited on, February 22, 2005, 4:18 AM GMT, by Blah.

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:22 PM

CI is so SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, unbelievable:down:

Rubu

February 21, 2005, 11:24 PM

Anwar Hossain Monir (RFM), now thats interesting. he is not a medium bowler or a medium fast bowler. he is considered fast medium!!

how fast does he bowl. never heard of him before. anyone has info about him?

al Furqaan

February 21, 2005, 11:25 PM

Originally posted by AgentSmith
Anwar Hossain Monir (RFM), now thats interesting. he is not a medium bowler or a medium fast bowler. he is considered fast medium!!

how fast does he bowl. never heard of him before. anyone has info about him?

i would like to say the same thing...apparently he has played in just one test...that watershed 2nd one in australia

he looks tall from his facial portrait. how tall is he?

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:33 PM

30 mins gone by now.
When CI updates again, I would like to see both DAS and DAS are gone.

cracky

February 21, 2005, 11:33 PM

East Zone 2/0 (2.0 ov)

2007WcSemifinalist

February 21, 2005, 11:34 PM

CI sucks....shahadat is bowling? lol

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:34 PM

OUT!!!!

cracky

February 21, 2005, 11:34 PM

Gone

East Zone 10/1 (6.2 ov)

cisco-guy

February 21, 2005, 11:34 PM

:great::great::fanflag:

cracky

February 21, 2005, 11:35 PM

Monir got the wicket

Mahir

February 21, 2005, 11:35 PM

shahadat hossain ? IS IT RAJIB ? WHAT ??? when did he fly to india from zimbabwe ????

On November 3, 1999, Rajeev Nayyar, captaining Himachal Pradesh, erased a record that had stood for 40 years. Lasting five minutes under 17 hours, Nayyar's epic 271 eclipsed Hanif Mohammad's 970-minute 337 for the longest first-class innings of all time.

While Nayyar's innings made headlines for its duration, it was just one of several big scores that were being amassed by batsmen all over the country. Five days after Nayyar's feat, Pankaj Dharmani cracked an unbeaten 305 for Punjab and Mohammad Azharuddin made a double-hundred for Hyderabad. Eight scores of more than 200 were made that November, and in all there were 33 scores of 150-plus in 64 Ranji Trophy games that season as bowlers around the country were dominated and manhandled.

Fielding captains often found themselves in hopeless situations and spinners were called upon to limit the damage. Of the top 20 wicket-takers in 1999-00, 11 were spinners; the faster men were often required only for lacquer-removing purposes. The upshot of these batting marathons was that a number of games ended in stalemates: only 50 per cent of matches produced results. One hundred and thirty-seven hundreds were scored in 220 innings.

Five years on, there's a different buzz in the Ranji Trophy: it's about bowlers  pace bowlers in particular  and results. Only five double-hundreds have come in 79 Ranji games this season (and there've been merely 13 individual scores of more than 150). Teams have crossed 500 only very rarely. Medium-pacers  13 out of the top 20 wicket-takers in the 79 matches so far  were hugely influential, and more matches produced results  nearly a jump of 6.5 per cent from 1999-00.

To dismiss this as a freak season would be naοve. A look at the trends since 1999 reveals a gradual shift of power: from bat to ball, from spinner to seamer, from draws to results. Average first-innings scores have dropped gradually, from 324 in 1999-00 to 279 this season. It is impossible to attribute the transformation to any one factor, but as we explored the possible reasons, the blur gave way to a more meaningful jigsaw.

The pitches
In 1999, Keith McAuliffe led a group of pitch experts from New Zealand to India. They, along with their Indian counterparts, made an attempt to zero in on the type of pitches that would work best in the country. A number of scientific experiments, dealing primarily with soil dynamics and horticulture, eventually produced a model that was to be implemented in grounds across the country. The BCCI's pitch committee, formed in 1997 but largely ineffective till 1999, soon undertook an extensive operation of inspecting each stadium. The picture in front of them was grim.

At most grounds, the pitch preparation was left to the malis [gardners], many of whom didn't have a basic understanding of the process. Most shaved the grass off completely, and worsened matters by rolling the track with 2.5 ton rollers. The continuous over-rolling made the pitches extremely compact, rendered the grass dead, and reduced the bounce considerably. At many grounds, the ball hardly rose above waist-height.

As late as 1995, most grounds in India didn't have modern irrigation facilities. Equipment was archaic, soil quality wasn't up to scratch, and even a smattering of grass on the pitch was considered a no-no. The wishes of the home captains were adhered to as gospel, and most associations had little control over the groundsman's ways. Many captains approached the groundsman before the game and spelt out the exact nature of the turf they wanted.

The last few years, though, have seen a sea change. Curators' seminars have played their part in instilling a general awareness, and the appointment of five zonal representatives has also streamlined the monitoring process. Interaction with foreign experts has helped, and unlike earlier, when groundsmen prepared pitches by rote, there is a much greater understanding of the intricacies of grasses, soils, pesticides, fertilisers, irrigation, equipment, machinery and the like. According to Daljit Singh, the curator at Mohali, the mindset of both players and administrators has gradually changed. "Last year, a Duleep Trophy game was shifted from Jalandhar because it was felt that there was not enough grass on the wicket. Such measures were hardly taken earlier."

In 2002 there was a major revamp. Pitches on most first-class grounds, including eight of the nine Test centres, were relaid at the behest of the board. The fresh pitches needed approximately two monsoons to settle down completely. Once they did, the faster bowlers were pleasantly surprised with the assistance that some of the tracks offered in the last two seasons of games. The Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad, where Hyderabad played five matches this year, was the most striking example: medium-pacers accounted for 152 of 185 wickets to fall.

Shivlal Yadav, the former Indian offspinner, was chiefly responsible for developing the pitch, which many players reckon is the bounciest track in the country, and he observed how it could provide spinners with an ideal grooming ground. "A spinner doesn't need a raging turner. The ball just has to turn a bit; bounce is much more critical. That's when the spinner's flight, loop, and mastery of length come into play."

Only 95 hundreds have been made in the 282 Ranji Trophy innings so far this season (33.68%). This is just about half the corresponding percentage in 1999-00, but batsmen have come to accept that it is the way ahead. Kiran Powar, who played for Baroda this year, and has not only been one of the most consistent scorers since 1996 but also has the experience of playing for different teams, thinks it was high time this happened. "Batting techniques will definitely improve and players will learn the importance of grafting. It's a new challenge, and this season most of the batsmen haven't been up to the task."

The ball
Not only are many batsmen across the country baffled by the nature of the pitches. many are also convinced that the SG ball, used in domestic cricket for the last 12 years, has changed its properties. Chandrakant Pandit, Mumbai's coach, compared the balls used in the early nineties to the present crop. "Ten years back, the ball used to lose its shine within the first six or seven overs. The bowlers swung the ball much more during the early overs, but once the shine was gone, there was not too much the batsmen had to worry about.

"Now the ball doesn't do too much in the initial stages, but from around the 15th over there is quite a bit of assistance. Bowlers are able to swing the ball even around the 60th over, and once it gets old, reverse-swing comes into play. Unlike earlier, not too many bowlers look forward to the new ball, and even spinners are getting extra help because of the more prominent seam."

Amol Muzumdar, who has been playing for Mumbai since 1993, agrees. "Even when a batsman is on 80 or 90, he is never set when playing against this ball. Earlier, one just had to weather the initial burst; now it is tough to say that you are completely set."

While insisting that there has been no change in the make-up of the ball over the last 12 years, Paras Anand, Director of SG, puts forth a possible reason for the transformation. "Since 1998, we have become extremely conscious with regard to quality, and are constantly in touch with players and coaches in our bid to improve the quality. We have had complaints about seam-cutting recently, which was solved by carefully analysing tolerance levels. Players also felt that the ball lost its shape, so we have tried to stretch the leather more accurately."

The format
If one were to revisit the 1999-00 season and replace the zonal format with this year's divisional system, one would see that 13 of the 33 scores that exceeded 150 were made by batsmen from today's Elite teams against bowlers from the Plate group. The zonal format always gave the powerful sides some easy pickings against the minnows.

Anshuman Gaekwad, the Gujarat coach, considers the change in the format a significant factor. "Teams get to play against similarly matched opponents and you rarely get games when the batsmen have to watch out for just one or two bowlers. Most Elite teams have three, or sometimes even four, quality bowlers, and batsmen can't relax and knock off easy runs at any point in the season."

Another change that the players have had to contend with is the need to get used to weather patterns in different zones across the country, of playing on alien surfaces (each zone has distinctive pitch compositions) and having to acclimatise like on foreign tours. In 1999-00, Karnataka played nine out of their 10 matches in the South Zone. The only time they left the Zone was to play Bengal in Kolkata in early March, one of the most pleasant months of the year. This season, three out of Karnataka's seven league matches were in different zones and they made trips to Kolkata in November and then to Mumbai and Delhi in December, one of the hardest months in which to play cricket in north India.

The medium-pacer
No one is suggesting that there has been a drastic change in the quality of medium-pacers, but many bowlers who have been playing domestic cricket since the nineties admit that their effectiveness has been enhanced.

Physiotherapy and biomechanics have made their appearance on the domestic scene and Paras Mhambrey, Maharashtra's coach, says there is now more awareness of these aspects. "There are more coaches trained in the science of fast bowling and seamers all over are realising how to get the best out of their body action. Also, bowlers are much fitter these days and are able to bowl more overs a day and sustain their fitness for the entire season. Most teams prefer to play three seamers and one spinner. It was rarely the case in the late nineties. Batsmen today are struggling when put under such sustained pressure."

By sheer coincidence, a large number of matches this season were played on bowler-friendly tracks. Mumbai, Mohali, Hyderabad, Chennai and Nagpur  all of which favoured medium- pacers  hosted 19 games. But there were still a fair number of typical Indian paata surfaces and it will be premature to suggest that the dull days have passed by completely. However, the progress made cannot be ignored and could, if sustained, lead to a completely new era in Indian domestic cricket.
--------------
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is on the staff of Cricinfo.

This article first appeared in the February 2005 issue of Wisden Asia Cricket. Click here for further details.

Is it really true that Shahadat got back from Zimbabwe to India? I think Rajin may be injured or something, there is no other reason why he shouldn't play.

Considering that so many of our key players are injured, they shouldn't be in the tours now. Ofcourse, I don't know if Rajin is really injured or not; Enamul Junior is definitely injured - for which reason he's not playing in the 2nd test vs ZIM A.

On another thought, if Shahadat Hossain is the same Shahadat hossain Rajib who has been playing in Zimbabwe - taking 5-for, then how come he came to India all on a sudden, during the course of a match? It is all so confusing!

cricman

February 21, 2005, 11:57 PM

i think cricinfo will give us updates every 3-5 overs

Mahir

February 21, 2005, 11:58 PM

one of the members here in BC posted somewhere that Rajin "beat the crap out" of somebody in BD... is his absence in the BCB XI the aftermath of that ?

Shahzada is our best offie? I'll take an SLA instead. Dhani now goneeeee :)

Tehsin

February 22, 2005, 12:52 AM

Welp, this is our third string attack against some of the best batsmen in India. It's a mismatch to begin with. I am really interested to see how our batting does here. Hopefully Ash, Alok, Aftab, and Rokon will bat responsibly and get some good scores under their belt.

Edited on, February 22, 2005, 5:52 AM GMT, by tehsin.

Tehsin

February 22, 2005, 12:53 AM

Ooooooh, the spinners are on. Rajjak and Rana to the rescue ?

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 12:54 AM

Originally posted by razabq
Shahzada is our best offie? I'll take an SLA instead. Dhani now goneeeee :)

Shahazada is a pacer ...

sadhat

February 22, 2005, 12:54 AM

any wkt fall will put cricinfo into sleep!

sadhat

February 22, 2005, 12:55 AM

Gang-gulli needs a bouncher. He loves to be scared.

cricket_pagol

February 22, 2005, 12:59 AM

We have a strong batting lineup... our batsmen should perform better than them.

why Rajin is not playing.
why Alok is playing. we don't get lesson.
:mad:

sadhat

February 22, 2005, 01:13 AM

Dont worry Rajin will do good. He plays 1st class game 1st class.

blackcricketer

February 22, 2005, 01:13 AM

Originally posted by sadhat
Gang-gulli needs a bouncher. He loves to be scared.

Is cricinfo is india-based site? The site seems to be incoperative with bangladeshi fans. Is there any made-in-bangladeshi site?

Mav

February 22, 2005, 01:15 AM

Bad captaincy......

spiiners should have been introduced earliar

and sahzada could take some rest....then they couldn`t get this many runs...

fwullah

February 22, 2005, 01:15 AM

Why this banglacricket site is a 'made-in-bangladeshi' site i.e., if you didn't know it already

fwullah

February 22, 2005, 01:17 AM

Bad captaincy......

Its Ashraful's first game as captain at any level of cricket. So there is bound to be some mistakes.

savyasachi

February 22, 2005, 01:18 AM

West and North are the strongest teams by far. In the first round, North took care of West, which again is probably true to the script. Tendulkar didnt play for West against North, though, and he is certainly a wild card. My personal opinion is that he is over the hill. Neither did Pathan play for West in that match. That was probably more critical to the result.

I think West are out of it. North will take care of South, and should go through to the final. East likewise has little chance. They blew it against Central after taking a 1st innings lead, due to some pretty terrible batting in the second. Thus BCB and Central both are in a better position. I have a feeling this BCB bowling is just not par. Central should have little trouble with it.

My prediction is a North vs Central final with North winning by an innings or 10 wickets.

I am quite amazed that Bangladesh sent a stronger bowling contingent to Zimbabwe. I guess that says a lot about how people like Dav are thinking. It probably goes something like this ... we need to see who are going to cut it in non-subcontinental conditions. After all, even if they sent their strongest bowling team to Duleep and they did well, it wouldnt mean a thing come May in England.

And even after that, they seem to have kept back some good bowlers for the nationals. I think thats a good idea too. Looks to me like this is the 4th string Bangladesh attack.

sadhat

February 22, 2005, 01:19 AM

Originally posted by blackcricketer
Originally posted by sadhat
Gang-gulli needs a bouncher. He loves to be scared.

Is cricinfo is india-based site? The site seems to be incoperative with bangladeshi fans. Is there any made-in-bangladeshi site?

http://www.bangladesherkhela.com

100% pure made-in-bangladeshi site!!!

blackcricketer

February 22, 2005, 01:20 AM

Thanks:

I hope banglacricket will overrule cricinfo with online ball-to-ball commentary.

Is there any plan for that in the long-term goal in banglacricket? What are the shortcomings to do the job right now?

sadhat

February 22, 2005, 01:22 AM

Originally posted by blackcricketer
Thanks:

I hope banglacricket will overrule cricinfo with online ball-to-ball commentary.

Is there any plan for that in the long-term goal in banglacricket? What are the shortcomings to do the job right now?

banglacricket doing great job for bd cricket fan. they deserve :bravo::bravo::bravo:
Best organized any cricket fan site. and its getting bigger and bigger. Love multimedia saction. I watch game eveyday over and over and over.

Razzak has three now and Monir has one! We need to get Ganguly quickly and we should be able to bowl the rest of the side out without too much difficulty.

The team composition is worrying, but I am hoping that it is a CricInfo mistake that they will correct at some point! Unless Rajin picked up an injury on the morning of the match, I see no reason in not playing him. I am hoping that Shabbir Khan is actually Rajin, and Shahadat Hossain must be Mohammed Shahjada.

Edited on, February 22, 2005, 7:54 AM GMT, by Sham.

Dhakablues

February 22, 2005, 02:53 AM

Wow,, seeing some very consistent score by the key players. Both the teams abroad is playing consistently well... its a welcoming news for BD

I really dont know why the media in Bangladesh is screaming that BCB has made the national league lacklusture by sending players abroad,, but little do they realize the benefit of allowing the players to play in different conditions against players like Ganguly, Dhoni etc.

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 02:55 AM

Sabbir khan in playing........he has bowled......Rana has not bowled yet.......if we hope for rajin........then he is in place of Rana

Rana has not bowled...........may be he is not playing..........
I cant beleive that rajin is not playing.........yes, unless he has an injury

Sham

February 22, 2005, 02:59 AM

But, CricInfo also says Rajib has bowled, but that guy is two thousand miles away! So who knows?

Lenin Gani

February 22, 2005, 03:03 AM

BCB XI have taken 4 wkts (3 before lunch -- East 110). Now they are 147-4 in 45 overs with Ganguly batting on 21. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak has taken 3 wts and paceman Anwar Hossain Munir one. Rohan Gavaskar just made 13 off 21 balls. Top-scorer so far wicketkeeoer MS Dhoni with 51. BCB XI won the toss and put the Ganguly's team in.

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 03:05 AM

pitches in duleep trophy this year is not good i think....
250 is like 400 here i gues.............look what south zone has done....106/6........dravid, laxman all are gone.
so.......all the games will be low scoring ones.......so, 147/4 is good.....but not the one to be overjoyed......to my opinion.......hope we can book them in an around 200

It seemed a good morning after t3 wkts fell but after lunch not much happening.

cricket_pagol

February 22, 2005, 03:29 AM

It seems that the roster given by cricinfo cannot be correct... The looks full of bowlers. On top of that Rana is not bowling at all. It does not make sense!

PoorFan

February 22, 2005, 03:35 AM

Hmmm.....not good after lunch.

Sham

February 22, 2005, 03:37 AM

We just need to get these two out soon and we'll be back on track!

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 03:40 AM

186/4 ... hmmmmm

fwullah

February 22, 2005, 03:42 AM

Hey, are you Lenin Gani from Daily Star?

Navarene

February 22, 2005, 03:47 AM

1 . . . . 6 | 1 . . . 6 6 :mad:

PoorFan

February 22, 2005, 03:48 AM

Manzarul Islam Rana is playing and just hitted for two 6!!!

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 04:06 AM

I don't think we can score 300 with this team (hope cinfo did something wrong in the player list) ....

Sam

February 22, 2005, 04:07 AM

We need some quick wickets. Shahadat Hossain was very costly in his spell, so is Rana. Let's hope these two SLAs can get some quick wickets soon.

PoorFan

February 22, 2005, 04:13 AM

Ash just gave 12 runs in his first over!!

RazabQ

February 22, 2005, 04:16 AM

err... Rana's bowling credentials in non limited over matches is being found out methinks :) Honestly, he needs to make sure he gets runs in this tour and just keep the runs down to make it to England. And please, I forgot my asbestos underwear today, so no flames from Rana luvas

p.s. think mr. bombastic :)

Sayeed Haque

February 22, 2005, 04:33 AM

I think Cricinfo made at least one mistake in our player list. That Shahadat Hossain should be Nazmul Hossain. We might have fielded 3 seamers as the wicket is green.

shaheen

February 22, 2005, 04:44 AM

Ashraful tried with all the possible bowlers to break this partnership. He used 8 bowlers to bowl and now only Alok left out of action where Rokon is a specialist batsman and Sagir is the wicket keeper.

We need this wicket to be broken as early as possible

mohd azam

February 22, 2005, 04:46 AM

zim need 352 in 8 wickets remaining

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 04:53 AM

I don't understand BCB strategy of bringing injured player to this tour. It is not acceptable that three players are unfit in the begining of the first match of the tour. I think they were carrying injuries ... If cricinfo is right then we have six bowlers and 4 batsmen (including Alok and Rokon) in this match :

How long they are taking tea in this match! Long time no update from cricinfo.

little_master

February 22, 2005, 05:00 AM

Originally posted by sports_fan_bd
I don't understand BCB strategy of bringing injured player to this tour. It is not acceptable that three players are unfit in the begining of the first match of the tour. I think they were carrying injuries ... If cricinfo is right then we have six bowlers and 4 batsmen (including Alok and Rokon) in this match :

Is this first time a team is playing with six specialist bowlers in a first class tournament?
I did not find any batsmen on the list.
Only Ashraful and Aftab.....Al shahriar and Alok are not predictable......
all are bowlers....
huh...greate team indeed:down:

PoorFan

February 22, 2005, 05:02 AM

East Zone 281/4 (75.0 ov)
LR Shukla is on 103*

Too bad for BD!:(

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 05:03 AM

281/4 ... 15 overs to go.

little_master

February 22, 2005, 05:06 AM

Razzak Raj seems to be confident....
All bowlers are very expensive...:mad:

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 05:14 AM

East Zone 302/4 (78.3 ov)

sadi

February 22, 2005, 05:14 AM

i dun understand how can they play with only 4 specialist batsmen.... i think our batsmen are too good and we dun need more than 4 batsmen to beat this team.........haha....considering alok is a batsman........

roaring_tiger

February 22, 2005, 05:24 AM

by the what are we doing in India?

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 05:25 AM

East Zone 306/4 (80.3 ov)

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 05:25 AM

This is the 1st ever First class century for L.Shukla.
He did not have single century in his previous 57 1st class matches.

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 05:25 AM

I guess new ball was taken.

shujan

February 22, 2005, 05:27 AM

Originally posted by roaring_tiger
by the what are we doing in India?

Playing cricket!

Ok! it looks like BD is experimenting with the bowlers. BD used 8 different bowler. Talha Jubair, Anwar Hossain Monir and Razzak did good.

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 05:28 AM

We did not ball well enough..........i am concerned that......we may loose badly here........only 4 batsmen makes me more frightened

shujan

February 22, 2005, 05:31 AM

East will decalre if they reach 375. I think! Then they will try to force BD to follow-on. It is a must win game for East.

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 05:35 AM

Originally posted by shujan
East will decalre if they reach 375. I think! Then they will try to force BD to follow-on. It is a must win game for East.

Why will they declare at 375? I think if they can, they will continue till they will reach 500 or so.

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 05:35 AM

East Zone 310/4 (82.0 ov)

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 05:41 AM

Originally posted by sports_fan_bd
Originally posted by shujan
East will decalre if they reach 375. I think! Then they will try to force BD to follow-on. It is a must win game for East.

Why will they declare at 375? I think if they can, they will continue till they will reach 500 or so.

I agree.........they will at-least bat till 475-500

sasa

February 22, 2005, 05:44 AM

We do not have any hope :(.

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 05:44 AM

East Zone 310/4 (82.0 ov) and its Drinks........so, at least one hour more play left.......My question is, why BCB bawling tooo fast as they are not in a good possition in the match? the way things are going we will end up bowling 95/96 overs and let them score more runs and go to a stronger possition..............

shujan

February 22, 2005, 05:44 AM

Is it a 3 day game or 4 day game?

yaseer

February 22, 2005, 05:45 AM

Originally posted by shujan
Is it a 3 day game or 4 day game?

4 day

shujan

February 22, 2005, 05:46 AM

Originally posted by yaseer
East Zone 310/4 (82.0 ov) and its Drinks........so, at least one hour more play left.......My question is, why BCB bawling tooo fast as they are not in a good possition in the match? the way things are going we will end up bowling 95/96 overs and let them score more runs and go to a stronger possition..............

good point.

shujan

February 22, 2005, 05:48 AM

minimum over 8 remaining.

shujan

February 22, 2005, 05:49 AM

Current pernership 184.

sasa

February 22, 2005, 06:18 AM

LR Shukla lbw b Talha Jubair 123 180 143 16 5

eunusma

February 22, 2005, 06:19 AM

Bangladesh Cricket Board XI won the toss and elected to field first
Stumps - Day 1 -East Zone 356/5 (90.0 ov)

where did u get this results from, i didnt hard anything about this match, is it in India

vindeshi

February 22, 2005, 08:12 AM

u can get the result from the cricinfo.com or by clicking this link
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/NEW/LIVE/frames/BCB-XI_EAST_DULEEP_22-25FEB2005.html[/url]

Sam

February 22, 2005, 08:39 AM

Is it becoming an one-sided affair?
Our bowling attack looks toothless. Is this the best combination that we could send from the available players? Although there are few national players in this team, but I can hardly name it as the BD C team.
This is very unfortunate to see this one-sided match.

Tehsin

February 22, 2005, 08:39 AM

wow, how did this happen ? When I went to bed, East was a little shaky with 147/4 fro 45 overs. They added 209 runs in 45 overs and lost just one wicket ? Look at Shukla, his first century in 58 first class matches. Took him 8 years. He was clearly waiting for BD A all this years. :)

Spitfire_x86

February 22, 2005, 09:15 AM

Very disappointing performance :down:

fwullah

February 22, 2005, 09:41 AM

Let us see how our batsman performs tomorrow under such a huge pressure!

allrounder

February 22, 2005, 09:47 AM

Is it going to be an innings defeat or a comprehensive win against us?

Sham

February 22, 2005, 09:57 AM

We went in with a team full of bowlers, won the toss, put them in and then managed to take 5 wickets in a whole day!! This is as bad as it gets. Now, we are left to score some big runs and we are a couple of batsmen short! Oh well, lets hope for a draw!

reverse_swing

February 22, 2005, 10:01 AM

Draw is not enough.Usually in Duleep trophy first innings lead is very crucial.

Why do we have a bowler in the team if he is only going to bowl 5 overs in a day? This is a senseless scorecard!

Also, given that you would most likely want to play six batsmen in the side, why does the squad only have six batsmen (not counting Rana as a batsman)? Wasn't it forseeable that one of them might pick up an injury? It seems like Rajin must have picked up some sort of injury as well, leaving us with 4 specialist batsmen in the team, out of whom Kapali is out of form! Great!! I would think that on a tour such as this, the selectors would atleast have sent one extra batsman as cover, in case such a scenario as this arose.

So now we have Rokon, Kapali, Ashraful and Aftab as our specialist batsmen followed by Rana, Shabbir, Pavel, Razzak, Talha, Monir and Shahzada. What a tail!

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 10:17 AM

Our "off spin solution" Shabbir Khan (who played more than 30 first class matches so far) could not bowl more than 5 overs!! Weldone!

thecoolestleo

February 22, 2005, 10:18 AM

Whos gonna open with Rokon ?
Rokon and Rana, Rokon and Ash or what?

mahbubH

February 22, 2005, 10:20 AM

I will be surprised if BCB XI will score more than 250 agains Paul and Bose!

vindeshi

February 22, 2005, 10:24 AM

Don't you worry guys, we haven't bat yet, who knows something special will be waiting for our batsmen. Keep faith on them....go BD go:fanflag:

rafiq

February 22, 2005, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by Sham

So now we have Rokon, Kapali, Ashraful and Aftab as our specialist batsmen followed by Rana, Shabbir, Pavel, Razzak, Talha, Monir and Shahzada. What a tail!

I haven't had time to follow this game but is that the team? Yikes - what is this, the Bangladesh Reject XI? That bowling is suspect indeed.

cisco-guy

February 22, 2005, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by Sham
Why do we have a bowler in the team if he is only going to bowl 5 overs in a day? This is a senseless scorecard!